Review: Sweep in Peace by Ilona Andrews

Dina DeMille isn’t your typical Bed and Breakfast owner. Her inn defies laws of physics, her dog is secretly a monster, and the only permanent guest of the inn is a former Galactic tyrant with a price on her head.

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The inn needs guests to thrive and guests have been scarce, so when an Arbitrator shows up at Dina’s door and asks her to host a peace summit between three warring species, she jumps on the chance.

Unfortunately, for Dina, bridging the gap between space vampires, the Hope-Crushing Horde, and the merchants of Baha-char is much easier said than done. To make the summit a success, she must find a chef, remodel the inn, keep her guests from murdering each other, and risk everything, even her life, to save the man she might fall in love with. But then it’s all in the day’s work for an Innkeeper…

The inn needs guests to thrive and guests have been scarce, so when an Arbitrator shows up at Dina’s door and asks her to host a peace summit between three warring species, she jumps on the chance.

Unfortunately, for Dina, bridging the gap between space vampires, the Hope-Crushing Horde, and the merchants of Baha-char is much easier said than done. To make the summit a success, she must find a chef, remodel the inn, keep her guests from murdering each other, and risk everything, even her life, to save the man she might fall in love with. But then it’s all in the day’s work for an Innkeeper…

When struggling Innkeeper Dina DeMille is asked to host a peace summit for three species locked in a centuries-old, bloody conflict, she has no choice but to accept.

Innkeepers like Dina are magically linked to their Inns, sentient structures that change shape according to the needs of the Innkeeper and their guests. On the grounds of Gertrude Hunt, Dina’s Inn, she can use magic to alter physical reality…but it comes at a cost. With three separate species to cater to and the duty of maintaining peace between her guests, Dina’s magic is pushed to the brink. If she has any hope of protecting her guests, improving Gertrude Hunt’s star rating, and finding answers about her missing family members, Dina’s going to need all the help she can get.

As always, Ilona Andrews’ characters shine brightly in SWEEP IN PEACE, none more so than Dina herself. She’s grown a lot since the first book, no longer so tightly bound to the rules of Innkeeper society and more willing to take risks in the name of improving the status of Gertrude Hunt and protecting her guests. Dina’s motivation is clear and poignant: as an intergalactic way-station, visitors to Gertrude Hunt have travelled to all the worlds…and sooner or later one of them will be able to tell her what happened to her parents after their disappearance. I’m not entirely sure where this plot line is going, but I’m definitely intrigued!

If you’ve read IA’s The Edge series, you’ll recognize a few familiar faces in SWEEP IN PEACE. Normally I’m not that big on crossover characters/series in SFF, but it makes sense in this context…and I’ve always wanted to know what happened to the next generation of Edge kids. George, Jack, Gaston, and Lark are introduced early on and their backstories are explained well, so you won’t be confused if you haven’t read The Edge series; you’ll just have an “edge” over other readers.

Although I still love the characters and the world of the Innkeeper Chronicles just as much as I did when I was first introduced to it, I have to admit that SWEEP IN PEACE is rather slow moving. Despite the possibilities created by the warring species gathered together in Gertrude Hunt, the mystery that Dina has to solve isn’t all that compelling…or mysterious. Maybe it’s because this was initially written as a serial, but SWEEP IN PEACE suffers from uneven pacing and drags on at points.

I think anyone who liked the first book will be pleased with SWEEP IN PEACE, but prepare yourself for a small helping of second book syndrome.

Have you read the Innkeeper Chronicles? Are you an Ilona Andrews fan? Let me know in the comments!